The Heart
by Blueasice24
Summary: During a rest period, Wanda asks Ian of his point of view when she stumbled into his life, and Ian, always so willing to submit to her pleas, tells her. Ian's POV of the Host. R&R and Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

**Test Chapter of sorts, as well as a beginning. Wanda is extremely curious as to Ian's point of view when she first blundered into the caves. So he tells her, as unable to deny her as he is.**

Beside me, Wanda breathes in and out. It's a rhythm that soothes the falling anxiety. I can see her now that the light of day is returning, and it shines on her hair like a halo – my angle. Her pert nose scrunches in some thought. There are traces of a smile on her lips.

She sighs and rolls to face me. Her face rests against my chest, and I grin. I lay my hand in her curls and lean down to kiss her forehead – soft; she does not feel it. I look upward at the crack in the ceiling, at the light that illuminates our peace.

Wanda shifts in my arms again; she murmurs as she floats away from her dreams and returns to me. My hold on her tightens, the pressure just enough to make her aware once more.

"Ian?" Her head circumnavigates the surroundings until she realizes she is home – home with me. She smiles then and touches my cheek.

"Good morning, my Wanderer," I say, kissing her hair.

Her eyes close at the touch and then flutter open as if she is once again dreaming. "I don't know how you do that to me." She exhales a long, patient breath.

I chuckle. "Do what? Kiss you?" She giggles, and the sound is too much to ignore. "It is quite simple, actually. Even _you_ could learn it – if you had the right teacher."

Wanda blushes. "And who may that teacher be?"

I pull her face up to reach mine. "Why _I_, of course. First, you must take your mouth and place on another's." I do so to her, and I drink in the giggles she cannot contain. "And then, you move your lips as such…." My instruction becomes lost in the grip of the kiss.

Wanda pulls her body higher to accommodate the distance and fists her hands in my hair – the clutch of her fingers so tentative and yet so passionate that my heart pumps fiercely and my kissing turns harder.

We pull away to catch our breaths. The lull in my chest flames fires through my veins. I touch our noses together and grin widely. "How was that?"

Her blush is so adorable. "Perfect."

"You're a natural," I say to her.

When we calm down, Wanda and I lay together looking up. Today, I remind myself, is a day of rest and rejuvenation. This is not a day to worry over chores or Seekers or the way Burns sneaks contemplative looks to my Wanderer whenever we pass.

Just us.

"Ian." Wanda's voice is thoughtful, curious.

I lean up on my elbows and gaze down at her. "Yes?"

"Would you tell me what it was like? For you?"

I blink. "Whatwas what like for me?" And then I think I understand what she means but am confused. I am sure we already had this conversation once before.

Wanda apparently is thinking something else. Her cheeks do not blaze, and her eyes are not nervous. "When I came here – how did you feel; what made you decide what you did?" And then she shrunk, and the blush came. "You don't have to tell me if – if you'd rather not. I was just… curious."

I laugh and pull her onto my chest. "There's nothing wrong with asking. Of course I'll tell you. It's not a big deal, really. Well, at the time, it was….

**So you want to read more? See what The Host was like for Ian O'Shea? Review your thoughts and opinions. How do you think Ian felt throughout the book? **

**Also, what'd you think of what I wrote? :-)**


	2. Chapter 2

**This now take us into the past. Read, enjoy, and reivew! **

"Why did you give it water, Jeb?" Kyle said in an angry tone, fist clenching around the machete he held.

The parasite wheeled to face us, on its knees and wide-eyed with utter shock. It was right, I figured. They probably never dreamed that a pocket of us still existed in their perfect little world. Its dark eyes seemed to bounce or tremble – I wasn't sure which, though the movement made me wary and sick. After it soaked in our number of eight, it focused on Jeb with something of familiarity, as if Jeb could help her. Jeb stared back and ignored his group's fraying patience.

Beside me, Kyle growled with disgust, the sound rumbling like thunder from deep in his chest. He spat, and stepped toward it, raising his blade to deal the first and final blow.

"Hold it, Kyle."

My brother grimaced and turned to face a strangely even Jeb. "Why? You said you made sure. It's one of them."

"Well, yes, she surely is. But it's a little more complicated." Jeb was calm, I noticed. He was decided.

"How?" I asked.

"See, this here is my niece, too."

"Not anymore, she's not," Kyle said, spitting again. He stepped forward again, and I recognized the steel determination solidify and harden. Backing out was the last thing on his mind.

Jeb grasped this the moment I did. The rifle jumped up in his hands like a spring, and the metallic cock pierced through the air as deadly as the bullet itself. "I said hold it, Kyle."

Wisely, my brother froze – sword motionless in the sky. The parasite stared at it in surprise and then looked down quickly.

"Jeb, what are you doing?" The gun. Kyle. The gun pointed at Kyle.

But I was ignored. "Step away from the girl, Kyle."

Kyle whirled back to Jeb, face reddening with fury. "It's not a _girl_, Jeb!"

Jeb shrugged – too casual; and yet the gun was steady and ready in his hands, still pointed at Kyle. "There are things to be discussed," he said simply.

Maggie spoke up. "The doctor might be able to learn something from it."

From the corner of my eye, I watched the parasite – the _girl_, as Jeb kept insisting – cringe at her words, and I felt a twinge of sympathy for her – it.

"Aunt Maggie?" It cried, "You're here? How? Is Sharon–"

Maggie wasted no time. She lunged forward with a youthful strength, a lion in a lamb's suit, and slapped the parasite – twice, hard. I did not blame her. My innards clenched at the words spewing from the invader.

"You won't _fool_ us, you parasite. We know how you work. We know how well you can mimic us."

"Now Maggie," Jeb's voice became soothing.

"Don't you 'Now, Maggie' me, you old fool! She's probably led a legion of them down on us." Maggie backed away, eyeing it like a rattler or a Cobra, and stopped beside her brother.

Jeb rolled his eyes. "I don't see anyone." My heart gave a jump when he yelled, "_Hey!_" I flinched. Jeb waved his left hand high in the air. "_Over here!_"

"Shut up!" Maggie shoved his chest, growling with menace. Jeb stayed stable as a rock.

"She's alone, Mag. She was pretty much dead when I found her – she's not in such great shape now. The centipedes don't sacrifice their own that way. They would have come for her much sooner than I did. Whatever else she is, she's alone." Jeb began walking toward 'the centipede', and we closed in with him.

Kyle's hand hovered over the old man's shoulder, the fingers tensing and trembling with rage when Jeb held out his own hand to the parasite. It did not take the offer, staring at his palm like it bore sharp teeth.

"C'mon," he urged with surprising gentleness. "If I could carry you that far, I woulda brought you home last night. You're gonna have to walk some more."

Kyle erupted. "No!"

"I'm taking her back." The casual tone hardened, and Jeb's jaw tightened into that familiar stubbornness he was all too well known for.

"Jeb!" Maggie's wrinkled face amassed into sharp lines and 'V' formatted eyebrows.

"'S my place, Mag. I'll do what I want."

"Old fool!"

Jeb reached down and grabbed the parasite off the ground like plucking up an insect. It was unstable standing, legs numb from disuse, no doubt. Kyle and many around me hissed, and my teeth clenched in fury.

"Okay, whoever you are," he said to it, "Let's get out of here before it heats up."

One problem with that – if I ignored the most blatant and obvious issue.

I stepped forward and pressed my hand over his arm. "You can't just show it where we live, Jeb." He could play all the games he wanted, but not at the expense of the other lives that lived here. He may trust this… thing? Person? Girl? But I had seen the pity act more times than I cared to count, and I was not about to fall for it now.

"I suppose it doesn't matter." Maggie made a noise between a scoff and a snarl. "It won't get a chance to tell tales."

Jeb sighed as if it were a great inconvenience to him, tugged off his bandana, and tied it around the parasite's eyes.

It kept still, and when Jeb coerced it forward, its steps were cautious and very slow. Again, I felt the impulse to pity her.

_It._

I reminded myself that despite the fact it was female body stumbling around like a baby duckling, the invader inside it was an_ it. _Therefore, I watched an _it_ make a complete fool of itself trying to keep from tripping and falling and feeling its way around.

Some of the others were not patient enough to wait. The parasite was moving too slow, and the sun was rising. With each degree, the open became much too open, and I understood the paranoia that settled in the marrow of our bones.

So they moved ahead. Kyle was one of them. Maggie stayed behind and asked Jeb about Jared, whether or not he was going to know about the invader. Her question confused me. The way she brought the subject up was as if it was a sensitive topic for Jared. I imagined they would be speaking similarly if this were Jodi straggling in front of me – Kyle's girlfriend prior the end of the world. And Jeb was right. Jared had a right to know, who ever this body used to be. He was also right for saying life was unkind. One need just look around to feel such truth. The thought made me frown.

It was quiet again, and I was tempted to slip into my thoughts. But I held my focus straight. An onslaught could happen at any moment. My muscles tensed, and adrenaline from a few hours back still pumped like fire in my veins.

I jumped, my nerves so wound and coiled they just sprung. The parasite's sudden buckling legs flamed the inferno hotter. Jeb took out his worn canteen and held it to its lips, saying, "Let me know when you're ready."

I sighed. "Why are you doing this, Jeb?" Memories of the hospital rooms, of the amount of death, made me sad a moment. "For Doc? You could have just told Kyle that. You didn't have to pull a gun on him."

"Kyle needs a gun pulled on him more often."

In other circumstances, I would have grinned, laughed, or chuckled softly. "Please tell me this wasn't about sympathy. After all you've seen…"

Jeb didn't meet my eyes. "After all I've seen, if I hadn't learned compassion, I wouldn't be worth much. But no, it was not about sympathy. If I had enough sympathy for this poor creature, I would have let her die."

The 'poor creature' shivered at his words.

"What then?" What would possess him to put our colony in jeopardy like this? Sometimes I wondered if the man had gotten too old for his own good.

"Curiosity."

I had no nice response for that.

**How was it? Stiff? OOC? Good? **


End file.
